Skipping Stones
by KawaiiJoltic
Summary: We all know Paul's kinda a jerk, but have you ever thought about why he's a jerk? Zoey finds out while skipping stones on Lake Acuity. And what she finds out might suprise you.


_**AN- When watching the Sinnoh Anime, one thing in particular stuck out as a problem to me. The fact that there wasn't ever a legitamate reason given for Paul's rudeness. I knew there had to be a story in there somewhere, so I eventually made up my own. This is the story I made up, with some AgaingstShipping (PaulxZoey), EmulateShipping (BarryxZoey), and IkariShipping (if you squint) (do I even have to tell you?) for good measure. Anyways,I don't own Pokemon, but I do own this story. Please enjoy! -KawaiiJoltic**_

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Lake Acuity always seems a lot brighter at night, if that makes any sense. When I was younger, I often visited my grandmother, who lived close to the lake, and she'd take me to skip stones at night. It always would be one of my fondest memories, especially considering my grandmother had died not long before I set out on my journey. I had been training at the lake today, so I had decided to take my Pokemon to skip stones. Shellos especially enjoyed it, as did Lumineon. Leafeon wasn't particularly fond of the cold, but since Kirlia enjoyed it, I think she tried a bit harder to have a good attitude about it. With Pokemon, it's a bit hard to tell, but I was fairly certain those two were dating, which I had to admit, was adorable.

After a while, I noticed ripples in the lake that weren't mine or my Pokemon's. I decided to edge a bit closer to their source, my left, and eventually discovered their source; one of Ash's rivals. At least, that's were I thought I knew him from. I knew at least it wasn't Barry, as he was blonde. This boy had darker hair. I could've sworn I'd met him back outside Candice's gym, and that his name was Paul or something like that. As I got closer, could tell he was flinging rocks at the black glass lake intently, with no real regard for whether or not they were skipping. He seemed focused, so I decided that the best way to get his attention was to show off a bit.

After a fair bit of searching, I found a stone that was relatively flat and good for skipping. "Shellos, charge for Ice Beam!", I commanded my dear friend softly. She charged the small ball of icy aura, and I stuck the stone in it and skipped it across the lake. Everywhere it skipped, it left a small star of ice in it's wake, leaving a frozen trail across the water. As I'd hoped, Paul noticed and looked confusedly in my direction, his expression hardening a bit when his eyes landed on me.

"H-how did you do that?", he stammered out, seemingly regretting the words the moment they spilled out of his mouth.

I smiled and strode a bit closer so I wouldn't have to yell out my answer and disturbed the peaceful night. "After practicing a Power Gem-Ice Beam combination with my Mismagius, I figured out that Shellos's Ice Beam could freeze stones so they froze water on contact. It's pretty fun to skip them when they're like that.".

"Oh, right. You're a Coordinator, aren't you. You were in that Wallace Cup thing, right?", he questioned, coming off colder than Shellos's skipping stones.

"Why did you watch that? I thought you thought contests were prissy and unnecessary?", I teased, hoping to "break the ice". I inwardly cursed myself for making such a bad pun, even if it was only in my head.

He seemed a bit taken aback by that question. "What makes you think that?", he asked.

"Oh, Dawn talks about you a lot.". I could of sworn I saw him blushing just a little when I said that. "She told me you'd said something like that to Ash about entering the Wallace Cup.".

He started walking away and sighed "Oh. She probably paraphrased that a lot.".

I wasn't about to let him get off that easy, so I decided to just cut to he chase. "Why are you here, anyways?", I asked, causing him to turn to me, his eyes filled with sadness and regret.

"I knew that was coming. But if you must know, I was just trying to let off some steam. Nothing big. Just still mad at myself for losing to Brandon so badly.", he admitted.

I remembered that battle from the day prior. I recalled how determined to win Paul had been, something he'd attributed to his brother's loss against him in the past. "Why were you so intent on winning? I know you said it had something to do with your brother, but I still don't get what the big deal is.".

He looked at me sadly and sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you. Don't even think of telling Ash or Dawn, though. Or anyone else for that matter.".

I nodded slowly, unsure of where he was going with this. He took a rather deep breath. "Fine. Ok, when I was three or so, my parents died. Or at least, that's what I've always heard. I was too young to remember it. Anyways, Reggie was very close to conquering the Kanto Battle Frontier when they died and he had to come home to look after me. He resented that he couldn't accomplish his dream, and wasn't exactly ever pleasant to me. Always being hostile, but he eventually buried his grudge and decided to be a Pokemon Breeder. Brandon finally arranged with him to come to Sinnoh for a battle, but Reggie didn't stand a chance. I couldn't understand it at the time, but I now I feel bad that I stopped him from his dream. I guess that's why I wanted to win so badly. So I could win for both of us.".

I hung on his every word with bated breath. When he was done, I wasn't sure how to respond, but I eventually found the words. "I'm so sorry. It must have been hard for both of you. Hard for you to grow up in a hard place and hard for him to lose his dream. I guess you had to rely on friends a lot.".

He looked over at me and smiled ironically. "Didn't really have many of those. I had my Sneasel and Elekid, who I'd had for years, but that was about it. I was always that weird kid no one wanted to be around. It certainly didn't make anything any better, but I learned to live with it. Personally, I think I was better friends with my bookshelf and Gameboy than any person.". He joked about it, but I could tell it was still painful.

I then thought of something. "Wait, if you were so close to your Pokemon, then why are you so cold to them now?", I asked.

"After spending your whole life with people only pushing you away, you start to do the same. That's probably why I don't get on well with Ash. 'Cause light hurts your eyes after being in the dark for a long time.", he commented almost wistfully.

"I get where you're coming from. When I first met Barry, he seemed a bit too bright at first too. But I eventually got used to the light.", I reminisced. I was certainly a bit more serious before I'd met Barry. He was lighting me up a bit.

"Excuse me, who?", Paul asked, snapping me back to reality.

"Oh, a friend of mine. Come to think of it, he really looks up to you. If you ever run across him, try to be nice, ok?"

He looked as if he was sharing some sort of private joke with himself. "Ok. Are you just friends or…"

I probably jumped in shock and waved away his comment with a "No! It's not like that at all!", before remembering that I wasn't talking to anyone who really cared. "At least for now.", I sighed. "Maybe more, but not for a while. Even though he's only a few months younger, he's years behind in maturity.".

He smiled and started to leave. "Thank you.", he said softly before doing so. "It's nice to share that all with someone. I suppose a little bit of light is a good thing. Maybe I'll see you again, but it might be for the best if we just go our separate ways.".

He then left the lakeside all together, leaving me to ponder what exactly he meant by his last comment.

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_**AN- I really hope you enjoyed this! If you liked it, feel free to review it, and leave questions, critisisms, suggestions, or anything else you need to for reading! -KawaiiJoltic**_


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